The Next Step
by GSRlady
Summary: Grissom and Sara take the next step in their relationship. GSR,its been a while since my last story so sorry if it's a bit dodgy in places haha.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was lying low in the sky, signalling the near end of what must have been the slowest shift in history. To most people this would be regarded as a good thing but for Sara it meant that she had nothing to do for eight hours but to pour over cold cases, some dating as far back as the sixties with not much hope of solving considering most people involved are either deceased or so old that their memories have disintegrated into a pile of mush. The only constellation to slow shifts is that she found she could make up a lot of excuses to spend time with Grissom without him (she hoped) becoming suspicious.

It had been almost six years since she moved to Las Vegas and her feelings for Grissom are still the same as they were 6 years ago, granted it's slightly more complicated now than back then as she now holds some resentful feelings towards him after the roller coaster ride he's been taken her on over the past few years, but no matter how much he toys with her feelings and leads her on she still can't get rid of the jolt of excitement she feels whenever she see's him. Every now and then she thinks she see's him looking maybe even staring at her but once she looks back to check he usually busies himself looking at a clipboard or down a microscope, its moments like these that drive Sara crazy as he's just toying with her emotions more and more.

Sara was standing in the layout room looking over some old photographs of a young woman who was raped and murdered in her home some twenty years ago. Cases like this always sparked Sara's interest, not because she liked to hear about young women being raped and murdered but because she always felt a need to solve these case 's as she believed no man should walk free after doing this to a woman and the fact he's been walking free for the past twenty years makes Sara's skin crawl. Sara was so engrossed in this case that she didn't even hear Grissom come up behind her.

'Any luck' Grissom asked making Sara jump.

'Christ Griss you scared me to death!'

'Sorry I didn't mean to' Grissom said smirking.

'You never mean to do a lot of things' Sara replied, not meaning to sound so cold 'and no I'm not having much luck, whoever did this to her was very good at not leaving behind any tracks, doesn't really help matters that this was twenty years ago before DNA, so there's not a lot of forensic evidence at all'.

'I guess it's out of our hands then. Look Sarah I know you hate cases like these and you feel that you must help these women but sometimes there's just nothing we can do.'

'I know I can't always help them but if I don't try who will? A lot of these cases have been long forgotten about and people forget that these women had family and friends who still don't have any closure from this and I'm not one to give up too easily'.

Grissom looked at Sara with a kind of respect yet with slight sympathy. Sara's past was riddled with loss and grief which has lead her to hold such an amount of empathy towards the victims and their families, though this is her strength it is also her weakness as she becomes too emotionally attached which often breaks her down.

'Look it's been a long shift do you want to go out for breakfast somewhere, dayshift should be here soon so we might as well finish early as it doesn't look like anything's going to happen in the next fifteen minutes'.

'Yeah breakfast sounds good let me just clear up this evidence, get my things and I'll meet you outside'.

I think it is fair to say that Grissom hasn't been more excited, yet nervous in his life. He knew this wasn't exactly a date, or anything remotely close to one, but any time alone with Sara made Grissom feel like an adolescent teenager getting ready to spend time with the head cheerleader, Grissom just hoped he wouldn't say anything stupid that would push Sara away again.

TBC!


	2. Chapter 2

Walking to the locker room Sara could feel butterflies in her stomach, she knew this was only breakfast after a shift, which the team often did together, but this time it was only her and Grissom a perfect opportunity for something to happen. Sara knew deep down that the chances of something happening was very slim considering her and Grissom's history which usually involves Sara throwing herself at him and opening up to him losing all inhabitations only to get shot down and humiliated. This time will be different, she thought, she promised to herself that she wouldn't be humiliated this time, she would just play it cool and let him do the chasing.

As Sara made her way outside she could see Grissom standing by his car watching her as she walked over to him. The butterflies in Sara's stomach were getting stronger the closer to Grissom she got, she didn't know how she was going to make it through breakfast without making a fool of herself. She knew that her nerves would make her say something regrettable such as "Grissom I want your babies" though she knew she'd never say something that stupid she couldn't help repeating in her head not to dare say that.

"Hi Sara, you ready?" Grissom asked with a slight smirk on his face almost like he knew what was going through Sara's head, or maybe because she had an incredibly worried look on her face.

"Yeah I'm all set, where we going? The usual?" Sara asked.

"I was thinking of having a change today, I found a nice little place just off the strip we could try, unless you want to stick to our usual place?"

"Nah lets check out this new place, its nice to try something different every now and again" Sara replied with a cheeky grin on her face. Grissom didn't know if Sara was still talking about the restaurant or something else but either way Sara had a way of exciting him like no other woman he knew, even if she wasn't trying.

Due to parking problems in any place remotely close the strip they decided it would be best if Sara went with Grissom to save the hastle of finding two parking spaces near each other and the restaurant, not because they couldn't be bothered with the walk but due to not wanting the car to be far out of view due to the amount of crime in Las Vegas.

The conversation on the way to the restaurant was fairly business like, discussing past cases and on going cases, this was a part of Sara's plan of not making a fool of herself, if she kept things business like there'd be less chance of her saying anything which she would most likely regret straight away. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep the conversation professional for long because she knew he would most likely ask her something which would lead to the conversation becoming about her, though this excited her in a way as it could lead to something which she'd been wanting for six years, but from six years experience she knew that would be extremely unlikely to happen.

Before Sara knew it they had arrived at the restaurant and Grissom was pulling up into a space just left of what looked like a posh Italian restaurant. It was 7am but this was Vegas, the city that never sleeps so unsurprisingly it was still open. Sara didn't expect Grissom to bring her to a place like this considering they were both still in their work clothes but due to the time it wasn't particularly busy and so they most likely weren't picky about their customers attire.

As Sara climbed out of Grissom's car and walked to the restaurants door she could feel her butterflies coming back . Grissom held open the door for her and she could get the full extent of how posh the restaurant actually was.

"Table for two?"

TBC!


	3. Chapter 3

Grissom and Sara were seated at a table located next to the window looking out on the seemingly quiet street outside. Having worked the graveyard shift for the past six years Sara was used to not seeing much of what could be considered 'normal' goings on during the day in Vegas, night seemed to change the city somewhat from a normal busy city to a dark, neon, drug fuelled, crime filled place which Sara could only describe as Hell. Though used to this aspect of Las Vegas Sara often dreamed of working and living in an area not so 'crazy', but as a CSI living in a place like that wouldn't offer many job prospects or many exciting cases which Vegas often provided for her keen, puzzle solving mind.

Grissom was looking intently at Sara, she could feel his eyes boring into her like he was reading her mind, Grissom often did this. Though largely known for his lack of social skills Sara had a feeling he wasn't as socially inept as he leads on, God only knows how many times he has figured her out before now which is more than what a socially inadequate person could do. This is what Sara loves most about Grissom, his intelligence, it is safe to say that Grissom is the most intelligent person she'd ever had the fortune of knowing and for Sara intelligence was a huge turn on.

"Are you ok Sara? It seems like you have a lot on your mind" Grissom asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Yeah I'm fine; I'm just thinking how lovely this restaurant is. How did you come across this place?"

"I found it during a case a few years ago, one of the waiters was involved in an armed robbery of a convenience store close to Desert Palm hospital. I've been meaning to come here for a while now but have never had the opportunity. I wanted to save it for something special!" Grissom had a cheeky smile on his face as he said the last sentence. Sara could feel herself blushing from his last words. The words 'something special' were replaying through her head, he thought that this was a special occasion too! Granted this isn't what you would call a typical date as it was 7am and a spur of the moment decision after work, but then Grissom and Sara aren't what you would describe as a typical couple. Considering how many dinners they've been on you couldn't really even describe this as a first date, more the beginning of a new part in their lives, the next step as it were.

"Are you ready to order?" the waiter had arrived without Sara noticing, she hadn't even looked at the menu yet as she had been too focused on Grissom. After quickly flicking through the menu she selected a lasagne while Grissom went for spaghetti bolognaise. Once the waiter had left Sara focused her attention back onto Grissom.

"How long have you wanted to bring me to this place, assuming you had always thought me worthy of this special occasion" Sara asked with a glint in her eye which Grissom had not seen for a fairly long time.

"You were always the first person on my mind to bring here since I first discovered this place three years ago, there just never seemed to be a good time for me to bring you here. I wanted it to be a perfect evening but could never pluck up the courage to ask you here on a date, so I decided to just through caution to the wind and bring you here after shift, and here we are." Grissom had a look on his face which Sara had never seen before, it was a look of both shyness and also a kind of longing.

Sara could feel herself blush slightly, she couldn't believe what he was saying, he was finally admitting his feelings for her after six years of pussy footing around the subject he was finally admitting to her that he likes her. Sara didn't know what to say both from shyness and from being in shock.

Grissom moved his handover Sara's and gave it a light squeeze whilst gazing intently into her eyes with a slight smile on his face. Sara didn't know what it was about Grissom but he always had a way of making her feel at ease even when at the height of any emotion, this time the emotion being ecstatic happiness, it took all her will not to scream with excitement.

"Lasagne?"


End file.
